Release Notes. TimeForce Version 2.8.1

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1 Release Notes TimeForce Version 2.8.1

2 Publication Record Software Version Publication Date Description May 2009 Release notes for Qqest Software Systems TimeForce May 2009 release 2009 Qqest Software Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. P.O. Box 860, Sandy UT Telephone (801) Qqest TimeForce is a registered trademark of Qqest Software Systems, Inc. Windows is a trademark of the Microsoft Corporation. InstallShield Express is a registered trademark of InstallShield Software Corporation.

3 Overview These release notes describe the changes made to the TimeForce system with the release of version dated May Contents OVERVIEW... 3 CONTENTS... 3 HR INCIDENTS AND REVIEWS... 4 HOLIDAY LISTS... 4 AFTER X HOURS CONTINUOUS MEAL POLICY... 5 HOURS ROUNDING POLICY... 6 OBSERVE DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME OPTION... 7 ACCRUALS... 8 ACTIVE DIRECTORY LOGIN COLLAPSIBLE MENU FOR SCHEDULES UNSCHEDULED HOURS CROSSING MIDNIGHT PAY GROUPS SPREADSHEET HOURS ALLOCATION SELF SERVICE PUNCH LOCKOUT SCHEDULE BASED OVERTIME POLICIES PREAPPROVED ABSENCE REQUESTS PASSWORD SECURITY OVER/UNDER HOURS ERROR VIEW REMAINING JOB HOURS DATABASE BACKUP BUG FIXES /28/ of 22

4 HR Incidents and Reviews The functionality has been added to attach.pdf documents to Performance Reviews or Incident Reports in the HR module of the system. This allows for easy reference to documentation that has been created outside of the TimeForce system. Incidents/Reviews must be added to the system before documents can be attached. Click on the main HR tab at the top of the screen, and then on either the Review or Incident links located directly below the row of main navigation tabs. The figure below is an example of the new HR feature. Figure 1: Incidents/Reviews Refer to the HR section of the electronic help system for full details on HR Incidents/Reviews. Holiday Lists Birthdays as Holidays When creating Holiday Lists, this option allows you to specify that employee birthdays should be treated as a company holiday. Any employee assigned to the list will receive holiday hours on their birthday. This setting is specified when assigning holiday dates to a Holiday List. Click on the main Admin navigation tab, then on the Holiday Lists link located under the Policies section of the screen. Each existing Holiday List is displayed. Click on the Assign Holidays link. The figure below is an example of the new feature. 5/28/ of 22

Figure 2: Birthday as Holiday Refer to the Holiday Lists section of the electronic help system for full documentation on creating and using Holidays.

5 Figure 2: Birthday as Holiday Refer to the Holiday Lists section of the electronic help system for full documentation on creating and using Holidays. Copy Holiday List The option has been added to copy a Holiday List. This allows you to copy the settings and assigned holidays of one list, and save it as a separate policy under a different name. Click on the main Admin tab, and then on the Holiday Lists link located under the Policies section of the screen. The figure below is an example of the new option. Figure 3: Copy Holiday list Refer to the Holiday Lists section of the electronic help system for full documentation on creating and using Holiday. After X Hours Continuous Meal Policy When using meal policies, this feature allows you to specify the number of hours between two punches. If the number of hours exceeds the number specified, the meal deduction is generated. This makes it possible for multiple lunch deductions to be taken in a day. 5/28/ of 22

Click on the main Admin navigation tab, and then on the Meal Policies link located under the Meal Policies section of the screen. The figure below is an example of this setting.

6 Click on the main Admin navigation tab, and then on the Meal Policies link located under the Meal Policies section of the screen. The figure below is an example of this setting. Figure 4: After X Continuous Meal Policy Refer to the Meal Policies section of the electronic help system for more information on setting up and using this option. Hours Rounding Policy A new rounding policy has been added which allows you to round a hours totals on your employees time cards. Daily or Pay Period hours totals can be rounded to the nearest selected interval. The last hours total for the day/pay period will be rounded. Click on the main Admin tab, and then on the Rounding link located under the Policies section of the screen. The figure below is an example of the hours rounding setup screen. 5/28/ of 22

new user. This option is for use in a setting where users are logging into and using the TimeForce system from an area that does not observe DST, even if the program server and other users do.

7 Figure 5: Hours Rounding Policy Refer to the Rounding section of the electronic help system for full instructions. Observe Daylight Saving Time Option This option works in conjunction with Self Service users, and allows you to specify whether or not Daylight Saving Time (DST) should be observed when creating a new user. This option is for use in a setting where users are logging into and using the TimeForce system from an area that does not observe DST, even if the program server and other users do. Click on the main Admin navigation tab, then on User Security from the System Tools section of the screen. When creating a new user, the option Observe Daylight Saving appears next to the Time Offset setting. The following figure shows an example of the new setting. Figure 6: Observe DST Refer to the User Security section of the electronic help system for details on creating users. 5/28/ of 22

8 Accruals The following options have been added to Calendar Based Accrual Policies. Worked Hours Requirement on Calendar Based Accruals This setting applies to Calendar Based Accrual Policies, and allows you to specify that employees must reach a required number of worked hours per month/year in order to receive accruals. This option is included as a part of the Milestone setting in a Calendar Based accrual policy. Click on the main Admin navigation tab, and then on the Accrual Policies link located under the Policies section of the screen. Create a new Calendar Based policy, and click on the [ADD MILESTONE] icon. The figure below is an example of the new setting. Figure 7: Worked Hours Accrual Requirement Refer to the Accrual Policies section of the electronic help system for full documentation on Calendar Based Accrual Policies. Pay Period Accruals With this release the option has been added to specify that an accrual policy applies per pay period, using a set pay period rate (as opposed to being calculated based on an annual amount). This setting is set up on the 2 nd option of both the main Calendar Based Policy screen, and also on policy Milestones. Click on the main Admin navigation tab, and then on the Accrual Policies link located under the Policies section of the screen. When creating a new Calendar Based policy, the Pay Period option appears in the When should these hours be applied field. See the figure below for an example. 5/28/ of 22

9 Figure 8: Pay Period Accrual Setting Once the policy settings have been specified, click on the [ADD MILESTONE] icon at the bottom of the screen. The 2 nd step allows you to specify the number of hours to be awarded on a per pay period basis. See the figure below for an example. Figure 9: Pay Period Accrual Milestone Setting Refer to the Accrual Policies section of the electronic help system for further information. Banked Hours Expiration Option The option has been added to accrual Milestones to set up an expiration date for hours that have been Banked. When enabled, a number of days after the Rollover Date is specified for expiration. For example, expiration is set to occur 90 days after rollover. This means that if the banked hours are not used within the given 90 days, they will expire. 5/28/ of 22

10 Click on the main Admin tab, and then on the Accrual Policies link located under the Policies section of the screen. Click on an existing accrual policy, or create a new one (this setting applies to both Calendar Based and Hours Worked Based policies). From the main policy screen, click on the [ADD MILESTONE] icon. The figure below is an example of the new setting. Figure 10: Banked Accruals Expiration Refer to the Accruals section of the electronic help system for further details. Active Directory Login This option allows you to specify that the TimeForce web server is part of the Active Directory Domain. With this option enabled, users will not need to log in when opening TimeForce. Users in TimeForce are set up with their network domain name. When opening TimeForce, the program will check which domain user is logged into the network, and log them in as the appropriate corresponding TimeForce user. IIS must be configured to allow for Integrated Security, the Active Directory option must be enabled in the System Setup of TimeForce. Click on the main Admin tab, and then on Settings located under the System Tools section of the screen. See the figure below for an example of the setup screen. 5/28/ of 22

Click on the main Admin tab at the top of the screen, and then on the User Security link located under the System Tools section

11 Figure 11: Active Directory System Setup Option The Active Dir User option in User Security must be associated with a domain user on the network. Click on the main Admin tab at the top of the screen, and then on the User Security link located under the System Tools section of the screen. See the figure below for an example of this setting. Figure 12: Active Directory User Setup Refer to the Settings section of the electronic help system for full instructions on configuring Active Directory. 5/28/ of 22

Collapsible Menu for Schedules In an effort to simplify the process of creating and using schedules in TimeForce, the Schedule Links area has been added to the left-hand side of all scheduling

12 Collapsible Menu for Schedules In an effort to simplify the process of creating and using schedules in TimeForce, the Schedule Links area has been added to the left-hand side of all scheduling screens. This area is similar to the Administration Links section that appears on the main Admin screen. This section contains a link for each screen in the scheduling module, and can be collapsed by clicking on the icon. Click on the main Schedule tab. The Schedule Links appear in the left-hand section of the screen. See the figure below for an example. Figure 13: Schedule Links Refer to the Scheduling section of the electronic help system for full documentation on the Scheduling module and its options. Unscheduled Hours Crossing Midnight When unscheduled employees work a shift that crosses midnight, this option allows you to specify that the punches falling after midnight are to be considered as hours for the shift that began the previous day. An Unscheduled Max Break Span is specified which represents the duration between an in punch and a prior out punch that the system will use in absence of a shift. Click on the Employee tab, select the desired employee, and click on the Pay Policies link located directly below the main program navigation tabs. The figure below is an example of this setting. 5/28/ of 22

13 Figure 14: Unscheduled Hours Crossing Midnight Note that this option must be enabled in the System Setup section of the program. Refer to the Pay Policies section of the electronic help system for further instructions. Pay Groups This release contains the following functionality changes to Pay Groups. Manage Error Monitoring in Pay Groups Enabling this option allows you to assign Error Monitoring Defaults to a Pay Group. Any employee assigned to the Pay Group will also subsequently be assigned to the specified Error Monitoring Defaults. This option must be enabled. Go to the main Admin tab, and click on the Settings link located under the System Tools section of the screen. Click on the Edit link under the System Setup header. Under the Pay Group Settings section of the screen, enable the Manage Employee Error Monitoring through Pay Group option and click on the [SAVE SETTINGS] icon at the bottom of the screen. Once enabled, this feature is accessed by clicking on the main Admin tab, and then on the Pay Groups link located under the Personnel section of the screen. View an existing Pay Group, or add a new one. Error Defaults appear at the bottom of the screen. The figure below is an example of the Error Defaults section of the screen. 5/28/ of 22

Figure 15: Error Defaults in Pay Groups Refer to the electronic help system for full instruction on setting up and using Error Monitoring. Copy Pay Group The option has been added to copy a Pay Group.

14 Figure 15: Error Defaults in Pay Groups Refer to the electronic help system for full instruction on setting up and using Error Monitoring. Copy Pay Group The option has been added to copy a Pay Group. This allows you to copy one Pay Group and its assigned policies, and save it separately under a different name. Note that the employees assigned to a Pay Group are not copied with the policy settings. Employees must be manually assigned to the new group. 5/28/ of 22

The figure below is an example of the new option. Figure 16: Copy Pay Group See the Pay Groups section of the electronic help system for more information.

15 The figure below is an example of the new option. Figure 16: Copy Pay Group See the Pay Groups section of the electronic help system for more information. Spreadsheet Hours Allocation The functionality has been added to track Job and Task hours allocations from the Spreadsheet Hours Entry screen. When enabled, the total number of worked hours is displayed, along with the total number of allocated hours and the difference between the two. This option must be enabled. Go to the main Admin tab, and click on the Settings link located under the System Tools section of the screen. Click on the Edit link under the System Setup header. Under the Time Card Settings section of the screen, enable the Display a Warning if the Hours Allocation Difference is not Zero option and click on the [SAVE SETTINGS] icon at the bottom of the screen. Once enabled, this feature is accessed by clicking on Time Card, and then on the Supervisor link located directly below the row of main navigation tabs. The Supervisor screen opens. Click on the Spreadsheet Punch Entry link located in the row of links at the top of the screen. The figure below is an example of the new functionality. Figure 17: Spreadsheet Hours Allocation Refer to the Supervisor section of the electronic help system for full instructions on using this option. Self Service Punch Lockout This setting allows you to specify that any employee clocking into the system using the Employee Self Service module must be scheduled in order for the punch to be accepted. If the employee is not scheduled to work a shift at the time the punch is entered, the punch will be rejected by the system. 5/28/ of 22

16 In order for this option to function, the user must be set up correctly from the User Security section of the program. The employee must also be scheduled. The shift that they are scheduled to work must be assigned to a Schedule Rule with a specified Allowed Period. A customizable message is displayed to employees whose punch has been rejected. This message is customizable from the System Setup section of the screen. The figure below is an example of the setup screen. Figure 18: Self Service Punch Lockout This option must be enabled. Refer to the electronic help system for more information on using this option. Schedule Based Overtime Policies The functionality has been added to base an employee s weekly or daily overtime on the number of hours that they are scheduled to work. With this feature in use, employees will receive overtime for any hours worked over their number of scheduled hours. This feature only works with Daily, Weekly, Two- Week, 6-Day Consecutive, and 7-Day Consecutive overtime types. In order to function correctly, the employee must be assigned to a schedule. The employee s schedule must be assigned to a Schedule Rule with a specified Required Hours. Click on the main Admin navigation tab, and then on the Overtime link located under the Policies section of the screen. View an existing policy, or create a new one. See the figure below for an example of the new setting. 5/28/ of 22

Figure 19: Schedule Based Weekly Overtime Refer to the Overtime section of the electronic help system for full instructions on setting up and using this option.

17 Figure 19: Schedule Based Weekly Overtime Refer to the Overtime section of the electronic help system for full instructions on setting up and using this option. Preapproved Absence Requests This feature allows you to specify an Absence Request in the system as preapproved. This tells the employee that the request for time off has been approved, but no absence is created in the system, and the hours are not deducted from the employee s accrued hours. For absences to be created and accrual time to be deducted, the preapproved absence must be set to a status of Approved. This can be helpful when an employee requests time off for a future date. Although the request is approved, the employee s accrued hours will not be affected until the date of the absence arrives, and the supervisor sets the preapproved absence to a status of Approved. Log into the system as an Admin or Supervisor user. Click on the main Time Card tab, and then on the Supervisor link located directly below the main navigation tabs. The Absence Requests section appears at the bottom of the screen. 5/28/ of 22

18 All absence requests that have been entered into the system are displayed. Click on the link in the Date column to bring up the request details. Click on the [PREAPPROVE] icon at the bottom of the screen. The figure below is an example of this option. Figure 20: Preapproved Absences Note that this option must be enabled in the System Settings section of the program. Refer to the Supervisor section of the electronic help system for more information. Password Security The option has been added to maximize password security by increasing the required complexity of user passwords, and by specifying a global expiration by user Role. Increase Password Complexity This feature enables you to specify that a login password must be of a minimum character length, and that passwords must contain 3 out of 4 of the following characters, lowercase alphanumeric, uppercase alphanumeric, numeric, and symbol. This option must be enabled. Go to the main Admin tab, and click on the Settings link located under the System Tools section of the screen. Click on the Edit link under the System Setup header. Under the User Settings header, put a check mark in the Increase 5/28/ of 22

Password Complexity option. This activates the Password Length field. Enter the required minimum character length in this field. The figure below is an example of this setup screen.

Global Password Expiration When creating Customized users in the TimeForce system, the functionality has been added to specify password expiration requirements.

19 Password Complexity option. This activates the Password Length field. Enter the required minimum character length in this field. The figure below is an example of this setup screen. Figure 21: Increase Password Complexity Refer to the System Setup section of the electronic help system for further instructions. Global Password Expiration When creating Customized users in the TimeForce system, the functionality has been added to specify password expiration requirements. This means that passwords can be set up to expire on different rates, based on the customized role that the user is assigned to in the system. Click on the main Admin tab at the top of the screen, then on User Security located under the System Tools section of the screen. Click on the Add Role link to create a new customized user. The figure below is an example of this feature. Figure 22: Global Password Expiration Refer to the User Security section of the electronic help system for further instructions. 5/28/ of 22

20 Over/Under Hours Error When using Error Monitoring in conjunction with the scheduling module of the system, the Over Hours and Under Hours errors will now be generated by any hours type on the employee s Time Card. In past releases these errors have only been used with hours generated by punches. Now any hours on the Time Card that meet the criteria for the error (even absences or company holidays) will be subject to Over/Under Hours errors. Refer to the Error Monitoring section of the program for more information. View Remaining Job Hours With this option enabled, the available hours left on a job as calculated by the Billable Amounts Estimated Hours is displayed on the Edit Hours Time Card screen. This option must be enabled from the System Setup section of the program. Refer to the electronic help system for more information. Database Backup Qqest Technical Support encounters a variety of upgrade issues that can resolved by simply restoring backup copy of the program database and re-upgrading. With this release, a backup of your program database will be made automatically before the upgrade process begins. This ensures that the integrity of your data is not at risk when upgrading based on whether or not a current backup exists. The backup file will be created regardless of whether you use an installation type of Typical or Custom, and will be saved to C:\TimeForce_DB.bak. Bug Fixes The following is a list of issues that have been fixed with this release. Time Cards The Punch Notes field now clears when submitting a new punch using the Enter Punch option. When overriding hours in Total Hours, a Premium assigned by a Holiday List can now be overridden manually. When editing punches, Inactive punches now retain the original User, and are not overridden by the user making the edit. Policies Premium Pay Policies now allow you to enter a negative (-) symbol when creating a rate/multiplier. Holiday hours no longer override schedules when set to anything other than 00:00 hours. 5/28/ of 22

21 Overtime policies using time-and-a-half or double-time, etc. can now be used in conjunction with Weighted Average types. Employees can no longer be assigned to the same Pay Group twice. After X Hours meal policies no longer deduct additional amounts when the deducted amount equals zero. Restricted Break Policy deductions applied by a Schedule Rule no longer override Meal Window deductions. Stacked After X Hours meal policies now award correct amounts. Absences/Accruals/Comp Time Absences created on the Comp Time Rollover date no longer cause system error. Hours can now be awarded via an Unpaid absence code with Restrict Absences in use. Hours Based Accruals will no longer generate on a holiday when not enabled. Absences that are set up to deduct from accruals can now be used in conjunction with absences set to award without causing all absences to deduct. Unpaid absences that add to an accrual will no longer deduct when a second absence that deducts is used in the same Pay Period. Absence Requests no longer use CInt value. Errors are no longer caused. Clicking Used YTD for an accrual will now list Unpaid absences. Job Tracking Job Summary screen no longer receives Overflow Error. Editing Job Transfer Punches in the Spreadsheet Punch Entry screen no longer removes Auto Punches. Spreadsheet Hours Entry screen now recognizes Job Tracking Defaults from the Employee screen. Error in Spreadsheet Hours Entry screen is no longer generated when the Job Number exceeds a certain value. Scheduling Inactivating a schedule in the system now also removes Holiday requirements. Reports Employee Hours Summary Report now correctly calculates salaried wages. Accrual History Report now sorts by Modified Date. Exception Variance Report now shows the date with Punch Times. Employee Schedule Report no longer shows Conversion Failed error. Time Card Alternative Report is now available from the Report Bar. Hours and Earnings Report no longer displays the Base Rate option for users with no pay rights. 5/28/ of 22

22 Self Service/Network Time Clocks Using the IN/OUT button to generate punches will now generate hours even when not viewing the Time Card screen. ClockLink will now send HTML packet file to standalone Net Clock. Administration A scrollbar has been added to the Company Administration screen, allowing you to scroll through companies. The Error Monitoring system will now multiple admin users. Non admin users can now see shifts that do not have departments assigned to them. Restrict Punch by IP error is no longer applied to all companies in the system. Card Number Error no longer appears when using large numbers in the Employee section of the Setup Wizard. SQL Injection error no longer appears on Forgotten Password screen. Password encryption is now used when running a Custom/Advanced update. Import Utility User imports now correctly create User Accounts. Import Utility now truncates long Job, Task and Dept names. If you have any questions, please contact our Technical Support Department at , 6am through 6 pm, MST. 5/28/ of 22

Release Notes. TimeForce Version Maintenance Patch

Release Notes. TimeForce Version Maintenance Patch Release Notes TimeForce Version 2.8.1.20 Maintenance Patch Publication Record Software Version Publication Date Description 2.8.1.20 May 2010 Release notes for Qqest Software Systems TimeForce May 2010